Judgment day

Five into three will not go as Birmingham, Blackburn, Blackpool, Wigan and Wolves vie for Premier League survival on a day of drama

Martinez says the teams that go down can still be proud of their season (Adrian Dennis)

The story of this afternoon’s denouement at the bottom of the Premier League
is told in the statistics. Five clubs playing for three places; Birmingham,
Blackpool and Wigan have 39 points, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Blackburn
have 40. In any of the past seven Premier Leagues each of these clubs would
already be safe and playing this afternoon for nothing more than the prize
money related to final positions in the league table. But this has been a
very different season and today’s conclusion is quite extraordinary.

Which of the five relegation contenders deserve to go down? On their league
form, perhaps Birmingham, but this has been the season of their greatest
achievement, a cherished victory over Arsenal in the final of the Carling
Cup. When it is remembered how well they played that afternoon, it is barely
conceivable that they could drop from the Premier League. Yet there is a